Cities

Politics of water in Mumbai

Mumbai, 30 October 2016 — The key issue with housing is land, and the battle’s always been over land. Sadly, city governments have never assigned or allocated land for affordable housing; neither have they actively engaged in building affordable housing. The private sector will not build affordable housing for the poor or even the middle class. See more.

Politics of water in Mumbai

Rajji Desai, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai, 30 October 2016

On affordable housing and privatization of land, the key issue with housing is land, and the battle’s always been over land. Sadly, city governments have never assigned or allocated land for affordable housing; neither have they actively engaged in building affordable housing. The private sector will not build affordable housing for the poor or even the middle class. As in the case of Mumbai, the middle class is very clearly marginalized from the main market supply. In these situations, governments will not only have to designate land exclusively for affordable housing but will also have to engage actively in building these units. It is because of the lack of availability of affordable housing that slums are proliferating. This is true for most cities in India and across the world. There are very few cities in the world where we can say there are no slums or where the state or city government has been successful in providing affordable housing. Singapore is one such rare and unique example wherein the city government has built the entire affordable housing stock.

Historically, before the neoliberal era, many cities provided housing for the working class and the poor. Even New York has a large number of council housing. Britain, not just London but all over, is another example. During the 70’s and 80’s, council housing was a very big movement undertaken by the government. With the advent of neoliberal globalization, cities experienced a privatization thrust and the governments began to give up their own responsibility and expected private agencies to take care of the provisions of social welfare, which included social housing, social amenities, social structure, education, healthcare, etc. Urbanization grew and cities rapidly expanded and, in turn, the problem of housing grew exponentially across the globe. As cities expanded, public spaces began to shrink. This is a matter of growing concern as we have come to a point where the indifferent and insensitive markets as far as social welfare and affordable housing is concerned has come to expose itself completely. And it’s is clear that if a solution has to be found then it has to be outside the market forces. It has to be beyond markets and, thus, there is tremendous pressure on governments to undertake direct responsibility of social welfare measures.

On reason for opposition from the government during the initial phases of the charter for the “Right to City”, India has gone into a tangent talking about smart cities, and having false ideas about city making in which we think cities must be exclusive. These grand imaginations of cleaning the “dirt," i.e. clearing cities of its poor people and making it available only for the rich by implementing high cost and therefore, unaffordable projects for most people. Cities are being used as an opportunity for reproducing capital at the cost of social development. Therefore, construction turnover is seen as a measure of successful urbanization, which is in fact the opposite of social development interest.

In the case of big metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, by having increased volumes of construction, we have not been able to deal with the shortfalls in housing. The volumes of construction have only been for the rich and exclusive, as a result there are 4.5 lakhs houses in Mumbai lying vacant, when there is a shortage of 22 lakh houses. This is the contradiction in India.

Cities are already choked and governments no longer have land, as most of the land has been privatized. One way to address this is through the development plan. A development plan doesn’t necessarily work on the lines of land ownership but it cuts across land ownership. Reservations are imposed, irrespective of ownership of land. A city’s critical issues should be addressed in the development plan. Then, via legal measures and other development mechanisms, land has to be obtained to address the problems faced by the city.

As in the context of Mumbai, one way to get land for affordable housing is by demanding that the slum land or slum-occupied land be declared and reserved for affordable housing in the development plan of the city. Redevelopment of slums could help achieve large number of affordable housing stock in cities, besides rehabilitating or reaccomodation the existing slum population. Slums are congested but not necessarily dense. They are congested because houses are jostling with one another with the lack of open spaces, roads and accesses and the ground coverage is almost 75% and, therefore, there is congestion. But, if we were to speak of density in planning terms then, density is the number of tenements per hectare then. Compared to the densities in other parts of the cities where there is formal housing, the slum density in Mumbai is relatively low.

Given the high cost urban land and its utilization or efficient utilization, one could redevelop to those densities, not necessarily through high-rise models but through low-rise, high-density developments and also achieve a greater number of affordable housing units in the city. This can be done in many ways: it is a participatory process, in which governments must engage communities in the preparation of visions about their cities. These are not exclusive domains of few planners or architects. The knowledge about planning and judicious use of land and resources vests with all the people of the city. The people are knowledgeable and capable of making suggestions and contributions in the preparation of people’s plans for cities. Close.

Politics of water in Mumbai

Politics of water in Mumbai

Rajji Desai, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai, 26 September 2016

In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognized access to clean drinking water and sanitation as a fundamental human right. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also said, "Safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are crucial for poverty reduction, crucial for sustainable development and crucial for achieving any and every one of the Millennium Development Goals."

With more than 58% of Mumbai’s population living in shanties and informal settlements, a majority of the urban poor do not have access to official drinking water and often rely on illegal, alternate sources of water. In most parts of the city, people living in unauthorized settlements and slums end up buying water from private water tanks and pay up to 50 times the water prices than the people with regular water connections, or up to 15% of their income, according to a study. Water is available for only two to five hours in a day and in most of the cases, this water is contaminated with bacteria causing a potential threat to life. In addition to this, women and children have to travel long distances to fetch drinking water everyday. In some parts of the city, like Ambujwadi in Malvani, residents of this informal settlement end up paying as high as Rs. 1 per litre compared to Rs.0.00324 per litre paid by a slum dweller with a registered water meter.

Mumbai receives 3,750 megalitres of water per day (MLD), with an average of 268 litres per person per day as against the national average of 135 litres per person per day. Sitaram Shelar, of Paani Haq Samiti, an NGO working extensively with the rights of the citizen's access to water, states that there isn’t a shortage of water in the city but the problem lies with the water distribution system from the main source in the city. Almost 27% of the water is lost due to leakages and misuse during its supply and 40% of the 386,971 connections are unmetered or faulty.

In 2014, Pani Haq Samiti filed a public interest litigation (PIL), challenging the municipality’s circular to various state bodies which prohibits them from supplying water to illegal settlements and slums in the city, stating that the right to water was a fundamental part of the "Right to Life" under the Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The government cannot differentiate amongst citizens in the provision of water based on the legality of their homes, as denying access to water is as good as denying access to life.

On December 15, 2014 the Bombay High Court passed a landmark judgment, stating that Mumbai’s official water service provider, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, must formulate a policy to supply water to unauthorized slums and informal settlements in the city that have come up post January 1, 2000. This judgment was passed after a PIL was filed by Paani Haq Samiti. This ruling helps safeguard the right to access safe drinking water and sanitation to all and helps prevent privatization and commodification of a shared public resource.

Inclusive urban development strategies must be undertaken in order to ensure equitable distribution of resources to all the citizens of the city, including the urban poor living in informal settlements and slums. Judgments like these serve as an important precedent in safeguarding our fundamental rights to survive in the city and forming guidelines for sustainable development in the future. Close.

Drama to Empower: Can theater reduce likelihood of prostitution?

Mumbai, 4 August 2016 — Mumbai’s Kamathipura is one of Asia’s oldest and largest red light districts. Exploitation is rampant, resulting in many girls being coerced into second-generation prostitution. The Apne Aap Women’s Collective (AAWC) collaborates with the Theatre Act to conduct weekly theater workshops for young girls living in Kamathipura to help them develop a skill-set that won’t force them to follow in their mother’s footsteps. See more.

Drama to Empower: Can theater reduce likelihood of prostitution?

Ashali Bhandari, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai, 4 August 2016

An estimated 5,000 to 10,000 women work in Mumbai’s infamous Kamathipura, Asia’s largest red light district. Earningsfor these women can be as low as Rs. 30 to Rs. 40 ($0.45 to $0.65) per client, resulting in severe exploitation by brothel owners and abysmal living conditions. Forty per cent of the women working in Kamathipura are homeless and seventy per cent are HIV positive.

In Kamathipura, nine out of ten women working as prostitutes have been trafficked from India or from neighboring countries. Over 25 per cent of the girls are trafficked into prostitution before they turn 16, and 65 per cent are trafficked before they turn 20. Many young girls who live in Kamathipura are exposed to the sex industry at a young age, playing underneath their mothers’ beds while their mothers service clients.

Second-generation prostitution can be prevented through the empowerment of young girls, says Namita Khatu, the program director at Apne Aap Women’s Collective. The Apne Aap Women’s Collective (AAWC) was formed in 1998 as an anti-trafficking organization serving the women and children of Kamathipura. Focusing on distinct demographic groups, they provide targeted outreach in terms of health, financial assistance, skill-based training, education, and social services to women involved in brothel-based prostitution, including daughters of women working in brothels (called Umeed), and young girls living in Kamathipura (called Udaan), and toddlers of women working in brothels (called Umang).

AAWC’s work with Udaan focuses on education, health services, and skill-based, recreational activities, one of which includes theater. Khatu believes that a medium like theater teaches young girls to express themselves: "Their exposure to violence and other illicit activities at a young age (whether it be directly or indirectly) hampers their development. Theater is a way by which they can enhance their imagination and become more confident and vocal about their feelings."

A group called The Theatre Act facilitates the weekly workshops for young girls. Kalyan Choudhury, an instructor with the group, said that the workshops have been a creative outlet for the girls to deal with their troubled past. Through theater, the girls can grow individually and together, allowing them to become more resilient. "Initially, the girls were extremely reserved and would hide when it was time for class. Now they wait for Sunday and enjoy playing together. Through theater, they work in groups, they learn how to ask questions and become connected to people and society. Now even when one girl is absent, the others feel sad she is missing the class."

During the workshops, the girls partake in group activities, trust exercises, and improv games, which allow them to build their confidence through public speaking, achieving set goals (like winning tasks), and working together.

Over the course of 2016, the drama classes will be supplemented by set design workshops to come together into a full production by the end of the year. By building their confidence and curiosity, fostering empathy, and instilling a sense of communal responsibility, drama provides the girls with a new set of skills that will become a gateway out of the brothels of Kamathipura. Close.

A voice for Mumbai’s domestic workers

Mumbai, 25 July 2016 — The majority of India’s 4.2 million domestic workers are women employed in urban areas. Many of them work in multiple homes a day, and on average earn far below the minimum wage. The National Domestic Workers’ Movement is lobbying for better social security and welfare provision for workers in Mumbai. See more.

A voice for Mumbai’s domestic workers

Ashali Bhandari, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai, 25 July 2016

In India, 84% of the non-agrarian work force is employed in the “informal” (also known as the unorganized) sector. The informal sector covers a vast range of employment, ranging from work that occurs in unregistered enterprises to work within formal organizations, where employers don’t guarantee labourers any social protection.

Over four million labourers of the workers in the informal sector are employed as domestic workers. These could be part-time, full-time, or live-in workers who are involved in tasks like childcare, cooking, cleaning, and/or hospitality at home. 70% of India’s domestic workers are based in urban areas, and 90% are women.

In Mumbai, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences conducted a study, which highlights the vulnerability of women working as domestic workers in the city: 56% of female domestic workers belong to marginalized and historically disadvantaged communities (Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, or Other Backward Classes) and over 50% are illiterate. Almost all women do not have a formal contract of employment with their employer(s) and they earn an average of Rs.1964 (approximately USD 30) per month, despite most women working in 2 to 3 homes per day. Furthermore, over 70% of the women working are in debt and have outstanding loans.

Domestic work in metropolises like Mumbai is rarely unionized. Over the last three decades, the National Domestic Workers’ Movement (NDWM) has been advocating for the rights of domestic workers, children in domestic work and migrants in domestic work through capacity building programs and lobbying efforts. The organization organizes meetings in different localities to teach domestic workers about their rights as employees. These settings also allow the women to discuss experiences and support each other with challenges they face at the workplace.

In 2008, the Supreme Court of India mandated the inclusion of domestic workers with the “Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Act”, which ensures the formation of state welfare boards around the country. These Welfare Boards are required to provide benefits like family medical insurance, financial support for education, and pension schemes.

In 2012, the Maharashtra Domestic Workers’ Welfare Board (Mumbai would be in the purview of this board) began to register domestic workers and began to provide some of the benefits stipulated in the 2008 Act. However, by 2014 schemes such as scholarships for children were abruptly ended and problems in the Labour Department led to a glitch in registration for domestic workers with the Welfare Board. NDWM is currently lobbying for separate laws for female domestic workers that would include: weekly holidays, paid-leave, and bonuses. They are also lobbying for social security for the 50% of domestic workers who are migrants to Mumbai. In May 2016, NDWM met with 60 members of the Legislative Assembly in the Mumbai Region to submit an amendment to the Maharashtra Domestic Workers Welfare Board Act, which would require employers to comply with the Minimum Wage Act.

In the future, the NDWM aims to shift the Welfare Board Act to a Workers’ Rights-based Act, with a grievance redressal system to ensure that employers cannot exploit domestic workers. The inclusion of domestic workers and workers employed in the informal labour markets in welfare systems is imperative in order to bring a better quality of life to the 84% of Indians employed in the unorganized sector. Close.

Will Mumbai maximize its new development plan?

Mumbai, 1 June 2016 — Mumbai's new Development Plan has the potential to shape the city in an equitable manner. The third twenty year plan was originally released in 2014 but received harsh criticism and has been under review and is being released in piecemeal parts. Professor Hussain Indorewala helps shed some light on the impact the plan may have in its current state and the issues that need to be addressed for the city's growth to be inclusive. See more.

Will Mumbai maximize its new development plan?

Ashali Bhandari, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai, 1 June 2016

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has spent almost five years preparing its third Development Plan (DP) for the city. This Development Plan was supposed to be inaugurated in 2014 and last until 2034. After three years of preparation, it was released in 2014 and received harsh criticism and has thus gone back under review. From a legal perspective, the plan is meant to propose upcoming land uses in the city, identify lands for public purposes, plan for social infrastructure, transport systems, physical infrastructure and services, conservation areas, reclamation, and more. Mumbai’s upcoming Development Plan has the power to shape planning in an equitable manner over the next twenty years.

This month, we speak with Hussain Indorewala, a faculty member at the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies, who also writes about urban politics, sustainability, and planning in Mumbai, about the potential of the plan in its current state.

Who is involved in creating the Development Plan? After the finalization of the plan, who is responsible for implementation?

There are various actors involved in the making of the DP. The official actors are the State Government, the Development Planning Department and other sectorial departments of the MCGM. In addition, there are various groups operating in the city (The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, Slum Rehabilitation Authority, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, Mumbai Port Trust, etc.), which are important actors. There are also non-official actors in the form of pressure groups, lobbies, consultants, NGOs, activists, etc. (though the degree of influence of these groups are far from equal) who play an important role in influencing the Plan. Once MCGM has prepared its proposals, they are presented to the general public for comments and suggestions as well.
The State Government appoints a Planning Committee to oversee the suggestion and objection process, and also sanction the plan. The implementation is MCGM's responsibility, however there are no penalties for non-implementation, and the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act simply states that it is "the duty of the Planning Authority to take steps that may be necessary to carry out the provisions" of the plan.

What have the challenges been in the implementation of the previous Development Plan (1991-2011)?

In terms of implementation, the standard lament of the MCGM has been the difficulty in acquiring land from private owners. In the 1991 Development Plan, new 'tools' were introduced for the purpose, such as Accommodation Reservation (where a private owner is allowed to use part of her /his land for private purpose provided a planned public amenity is constructed by the owner on it), and Transfer of Development Rights (TDR). These market-oriented techniques were meant to provide incentives to owners to surrender portions of their land for public uses. Despite this, plans have seen very limited implementation. Incentives were also given for slum rehab, dilapidated buildings redevelopment, etc. This has made the repeated modification of Development Control Rules a virtual art form.

What are the problems plaguing the finalization of this Development Plan?

Development plans since the first one in 1964 have been highly contested in Mumbai. This one, the third one, has been in progress since 2011, and has already been put on review, and is being released in parts. The current plan has been opposed by various groups for very different reasons. It is not true that only NGOs and activists opposed it; a large opposition was from developers who found the various exemptions of the 1991 DP preferable to the 2014 DP.

How can the Development Plan be used to make Mumbai a more equitable city? How can it address issues of poverty and rising inequality?

The DP has the possibility of becoming a re-distributive tool, since it can, in theory, combine proposals for land use, social programs and municipal expenditure. So for instance, if equity is the aim, it can set up clear and assessable goals such as:
• Improving human development indicators across the city
• Creating a certain number of formal sector jobs in the city by incentivising labour intensive, small to medium scale enterprises in the city (and not just by incentivising production of commercial floor space).
• It can set a target of producing a certain number of formal social housing units on vacant lands, while refurbishing existing housing stock of the city (instead of providing incentives for redevelopment).
• It can prioritize public transport and set targets (based on number of trips per day by public transport) to improve current ratios, by a series of measures such as parking charges, dedicated bus lanes, and improvements in transport terminals.
• It can aim to provide free and universal basic health and educational programs with high standards to all the city’s inhabitants.
• It can use existing laws (such as the street vendor act) to protect livelihoods of street vendors, create special guidelines for vending, and restrict on-street parking to facilitate vendors and pedestrians.
• It can provide special facilities near and within informal settlements that improve working conditions, provide job training and support, and help set up worker cooperatives.
• It can create facilities and social programs for groups with special needs.

Are you optimistic about the role the Development Plan can play in propelling Mumbai to becoming an inclusive city?

The MCGM's talk of making the city 'inclusive' is humbug. The proposals attempt to do the opposite. City level urban renewal is hardly ever going to work in the interests of the urban poor. Not mapping informal livelihoods (street vendors) and not planning for the informal sector is not going to make an inclusive city. Leaving development of "slums" to the SRA - the biggest vertical slum builder in Mumbai - is hardly going to make an inclusive city. Enriching real estate developers and rewarding them with the hope that they act in public interest is hardly going to produce an inclusive city. The review committee is now dumping the two or three good ideas from the 2014 plan.
The DP has the potential of being a very important instrument of social policy. However, as it is presently conceived, it has been made into a land use zoning tool, and a very inadequate attempt to control private development of land. Unless the entire conception of development planning changes from facilitation of construction activity to achievement of human development goals, there is little possibility of the DP making any difference from the perspective of social equity and spatial justice. Close.

Navi Mumbai’s Smart City Mission

Mumbai, 6 May 2016 — The Indian government’s Smart City Mission aims to provide a better quality of life for urban residents through ‘smart’ solutions. As cities compete against each other to be one of the one hundred cities selected for funding and government assistance, Navi Mumbai, Mumbai’s satellite city, is developing its blueprint to evolve into a smart city. See more.

Navi Mumbai’s Smart City Mission

Ashali Bhandari, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai, 6 May 2016

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has developed a plethora of schemes focused on urban development over the last two years. They have highlighted the urgency to create better quality urban spaces for Indian city dwellers. One such initiative, the Smart Cities Mission, proposes integrating technology with infrastructure as the panacea for poor quality of life in urban areas. While the Mission has evolved since its inception in 2015, the mission aims to "provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens"through the application of 'smart' solutions.

The Ministry of Urban Development highlights that smart solutions include both technology and governance, citing examples of “smart solutions” as: better management of waste to compost and recycling water in cities, energy efficient buildings and renewable energy use, smart parking and intelligent traffic management, smart meters to measure water consumption and quality, and tele-medicine and education.

The Smart City Mission will be implemented in 100 existing cities in India, with cities across the country competing with each other for financing. As of now the first 20 final cities have been selected. In order to finance the retrofitting of cities, the government has allocated Rs. 500 crore (approx. $7.5 million) per smart city. This will be supplemented with public-private partnerships and municipal funds.

Neither Mumbai nor its satellite city, Navi Mumbai, were selected in the first phase of the competition as a finalist in the Smart City Mission. Many parts of Navi Mumbai are not eligible to be part of the Smart City Mission as sections of the city are not run by a municipality, but instead by the City and Development Corporation (CIDCO), a planning authority. CIDCO has thus created its own blueprint to convert the city into a smart city without financing from the central government.

CIDCO explicitly states that technology is an “enabler” to better urban planning. Through various initiatives, they hope to integrate data and citizen feedback into the planning process, making the city more inclusive and management more transparent. CIDCO plans to self fund this project with an initial investment of Rs. 2000 cr but only time will tell if smart solutions will improve the quality of life for Navi Mumbai’s residents. Close.

Pushing for sustainability: can technology reduce congestion?

Mumbai, 4 April 2016 — Despite the highest public transit ridership in all of India, Mumbai authorities are heavily investing in infrastructure for private vehicles. With rising temperatures and growing congestion on the streets, Mumbai needs to focus on public transit. Moovit, a transportation planning mobile application, may be able to make public transport more convenient for Mumbaikars. See more.

Pushing for sustainability: can technology reduce congestion?

Ashali Bhandari, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai, 4 April 2016

A recently published survey highlights the dismal use of public transportation in Indian cities: less than 20% of the people in 33 of the most populated 53 cities use mass transit. Mumbai, India’s financial capital, is the anomaly. The city has the highest public transport ridership (buses, trains, water transport, auto rickshaws, shared taxis, and cabs) in India with 44% of the population using mass transit and only 9% using personal vehicles to commute. Nonetheless, investment in public transportation infrastructure is negligible in the Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Comprehensive Mobility Plan. While the plan does propose a congestion tax and multiple bus lanes, it also promotes widening over 700km of roads in the city and beginning construction of 19 flyovers and 6 elevated roads as a means to reduce overwhelming congestion.

Moovit, a mobile app, was launched in Mumbai in January 2016 to help combat congestion sustainably. Co-founders NirErez and Roy Bick developed the app in 2012 in Tel Aviv as a solution to their frustration with the lack of accurate data on public transportation. Moovit facilitates smoother commutes by using real-time data. Upon entering their origin and destination, users are provided with a plethora of routes, using public transportation, to help them navigate their trip. Moovit’s unique selling point is its ability to work with up to the moment facts and figures: the actual location of buses and trains. Thus, it can deduce whether bus routes are running slow or if trains are delayed, and informs commuters so they can plan their trips differently.

The potential for success in Mumbai is huge. By crowd sourcing real time data, the app has the ability to make public transportation more convenient and possibly increase ridership. The burgeoning popularity of apps like Uber and Ola Cabs show the demand for transit tools, especially those that promote convenience and live-tracking. By geotagging buses and trains in Mumbai, Moovit could be a panacea for residents fed up with frequent delays in public transit and subsequently resort to using private vehicles, increasing congestion and pollution levels.

While the integration of technology and transportation could be the key for sustainable urban growth, Moovit’s ability to convert car, two-wheeler, and taxi-going commuters to public transit may in the end prove difficult in Mumbai. Despite the app being available on Android and iOS for free, its success will have to overcome the vast infrastructure challenges in the city. The city’s train system is one of the densest in the world, with an average of four people crowding into one square meter, which many of Mumbai’s drivers may forgo despite the likelihood of bumper-to-bumper traffic. There is also the problem of finding “last-mile” connections to take commuters from public transport nodes to their destinations. In other countries, Moovit has tied up with taxi services such as Lyft to help fill this gap. Only time will tell if these challenges will damper Moovit’s prospects in Mumbai, even as it continues to thrive and adapt elsewhere. As of late January this year, the app has 95,000 users across Mumbai and Bangalore. Globally, the app is available in 800 cities around the world and has racked up 35 million users.

Apps like Moovit, which promote sustainable transportation and deliver better customer service, may be the technology of the future. However, changing behavioural patterns and commuting trends will require more than just technological change. For apps like Moovit to successfully convince people to switch to mass transit, governments and planning agencies must invest in better public transportation infrastructure, laying the necessarily groundwork for innovations to take hold, thrive, and hopefully stick. Close.

A holistic approach to empower Mumbai’s most isolated

Mumbai, 16 March 2016 — Skewed intra urban development leads to the creation of enclaves of urban poverty. Out of the 24 administrative wards, M-East is Mumbai’s poorest and lowest ranked on the human development index. Apnalaya has been working in the community for the last 43 years to empower the residents of this marginalized neighborhood to fight for better access to services and human rights. See more.

A holistic approach to empower Mumbai’s most isolated

Ashali Bhandari, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai, 16 March 2016

The geographic dispersion of growth within the fabric of a city is most apparent in the character of its neighborhoods. Rarely is urban growth so ubiquitous that service provision, economic opportunity, and human rights indices are uniform throughout the city. However, the isolation of Mumbai’s M-East Ward is so stark that it has presented a new challenge to the city. Infamously known for a large fire which caused a plume that could be seen from space, the ward has a ranking of 0.2 on the Human Development Index and an unemployment rate of 52 percent.

Until recent infrastructure developments—including the construction of an intercity expressway, which now passes through the ward—the area had been geographically disconnected, resulting in poor economic opportunities for its residents. It is home to the site of the largest and the oldest dumping ground in Mumbai, which has recently been closed due to high methane levels, and which was the main source of income for many residents living in this area. The geographic and economic isolation of the ward were compounded when the municipal corporation selected the area to be the main site for Mumbai’s resettlement projects. "The unwanted people of Mumbai... they get displaced and put here," says Tata Institute of Social Sciences Professor S. Parasuraman. The ward has an estimated population of 150,000 to 200,000 resettled new residents, mainly those evicted from slums.

The trickle down effects of poor economic opportunities and lack of connectivity to the rest of the bustling metropolis are epitomized in its poor human development indices. With an average life expectancy of thirty-nine years, M East lags behind the rest of Mumbai by twenty-eight years, and behind Sierra Leone, the country with the lowest life expectancy in the world, by seven. The provision of basic amenities is extremely sparse, with 66,881 people per health dispensary, and 87 people per toilet block.

In an on-going attempt to alleviate the economic and social marginalization of the residents of M-East Ward, Apnalaya has been working within the community. Their work has spanned the last forty-three years. The NGO has embraced a holistic approach on tackling destitution along the framework of three themes: Gender and Livelihoods, Health and Disability, and Education and Citizenship. Their approach works to empower residents from the community to help solve their own problems and negotiate the services and rights they deserve as contributing citizens to the city. Their strength lies in their approach where they recognize the causational relationships between health, education, gender, and livelihood. They have employed creative means like storytelling and drama to help young women recognize the importance of education and self-sustenance. Moreover, they have one of the only community-based disability programs in the city, which raises awareness about and economically empowers disabled citizens in the community. Lastly, also help residents access government schemes and educate citizens on the importance of civic action.

With a reach of over 5,000 beneficiaries, Apnalaya is currently working with residents of the community to fight new rounds of demolitions occurring in the ward due to the aftermath of the January 2016 fire. Though there is much work to be done, hopefully their integrated approach will bring the residents of M-East Ward better living conditions on par with their city at large. Close.

Community-driven initiatives to reduce gender-based violence

Mumbai, 2 February 2016 — Women experience urban areas differently from men, yet Indian planning methods have yet to integrate gendered perspectives. In Mumbai, initiatives like SNEHA's Little Sister Project and Safe City crowd source data on gender based violence to work on community interventions to reduce crimes against women. See more.

Community-driven initiatives to reduce gender-based violence

Ashali Bhandari, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai, 2 February 2016

Government planning has done little to address the burgeoning rates of crimes against women in Indian cities. Mumbai’s ex-municipal commissioner acknowledged the exclusion of "gender perspective(s)" in previous city development measures. Unfortunately, Mumbai is not alone: statistics from the National Crime Bureau report higher rates of crimes against women in cities (69.7 per 100,000) as compared to the national average (52.2). In order to incite change to reduce gender-based crimes in urban areas, ingenious citizen initiatives and laudable projects by NGOs use community members to create safer city spaces.

At SNEHA, the Society for Nutrition, Education & Health Action, Nayreen Daruwalla and Professor David Osrin have been working on community programs to reduce gender-based violence in Dharavi, one of Mumbai’s largest informal settlements. SNEHA trains women in the community, known as Sanginis, to help identify and refer cases of gender-based violence to the counseling center. However, the ubiquity and normality of such crimes made it difficult to track the frequency with which they were occurring, except for those who approached the counseling centers.

The Little Sister Project provides the Sanginis with technology, enabling them to record and map cases of violence when reported, in the hope of circumventing under reporting. The Sanginis are neighbors, friends, and family members of the victims. “Our vision of primary prevention is to create community activists to make them into a 21st-century surveillance team who use a set of protocols and skills to carry our primary and secondary intervention in innovative ways,” says Daruwalla.

Since June 2014, over 1,000 cases of violence have been reported, averaging at 60 cases every month. The Little Sister Project integrates technology to track patterns of intervention as well: 25% of victims have chosen crisis counseling at SNEHA’s counseling center and over 45% have chosen barefoot counseling with Sanginis. However, Daruwalla has mentioned that challenges with technology have impeded tracking. In order to combat difficulty in accessing GPS due to poor connectivity, they have recently mapped the GPS coordinates of their neighborhood (Dharavi).

On a larger scale, Safecity emerged as a platform for women to report incidents of sexual violence in public spaces in urban India. Along with details about specific incidents, women now have the ability to geotag crimes, creating a map of “hotspots” to identify zones of harassment. Over the last three years, more than 7,500 experiences have been documented on the platform. Safecity has led interventions and workshops to create safer neighborhoods in areas with a higher prevalence of gender-based crimes.

Overall, both projects in Mumbai have participatory approaches when dealing with violence against women. The initiatives show that using community members to devise plans and solve issues can help raise awareness and can benefit community members more than top-down approaches (or the lack thereof). Going forward, hopefully more participatory programs will allow community members to contribute to their own development within the framework of their environment. Close.

Mumbai’s coastal edges could define the city’s future

Mumbai, 25 January 2016 — The peninsula city of Mumbai may be one of the most crowded in the world, but it also boasts an enviable 149 kilometers of coastline. Undoubtedly, the city’s setting offers a lot of untapped potential, and this year will be telling for how the sweeping coastal asset will be used. See more.

Mumbai’s coastal edges could define the city’s future

Carlin Carr, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai, 25 January 2016

The peninsula city of Mumbai may be one of the most crowded in the world, but it also boasts an enviable 149 kilometers of coastline. Undoubtedly, the city’s setting offers a lot of untapped potential, and this year will be telling for how the sweeping coastal asset will be incorporated into upcoming plans. Two projects in the making – the redevelopment of the city’s Eastern seafront and a coastal road on the opposite shore – could reshape Mumbai’s geography, public space, transportation infrastructure and affordable housing opportunities for years to come.

Mumbai’s Eastern Waterfront was once a bustling port, but, in more recent times, the 1,800-acre swath of land known as the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) has become one of the more underutilized areas in the city. Most of the space currently has old warehouses or make-shift housing for ship breakers and other informal workers in the area. Last year, a huge opportunity opened up: a portion of the MbPT land would be been given over to the city for a new future. How the city will move forward with the redevelopment could redefine a new trajectory in the development of the city. Activists have called for MbPT land to be used as open spaces – parks, bike lanes, and seaside promenades, as well as affordable housing. The space is ideal for mapping out a Mumbai that thinks about how to create a “city for all.” However, many residents fear the much-needed space could turned over to private developers who, in other parts of the city, have turned open lands into luxury malls.

On the other side of the peninsula, Mumbaikers have a different worry. In an attempt to tackle serious traffic congestion problems, city officials have proposed a coastal road to cut off commute times from the business district in the southern tip to the northern-western suburbs. The road has seen serious protest from everyone from sustainable transport activists to ecologists, who say the road has the potential to devastate the livelihood of fishing communities who still work off Mumbai’s shores. Not to mention that the massively expensive, infrastructure-heavy project would only serve a slice of the huge population, the majority of whom use a woefully outdated public transport system. And, of course, the coastal road would cut the city off from its most prized asset: the sea – and could forever change the coastline of the city.

What happens with these two projects could really set a trend in Mumbai’s development trajectory. The opening up of the city’s Eastern waterfront offers massive potential to create a more sustainable, inclusive city. Rarely do overcrowded megacities like this get such open and available swaths of land without uprooting dense slums or micro-businesses. On the blank-slate-like state of the area can be written a new future – one that likely doesn’t include roads that cut off the city from the sea and one that begins to see open areas as public spaces for everyone to enjoy, not just a small percentage of the population.Close.